BEHIND THE WHEEL/2001 Pontiac Aztek; Add Rats and Snakes And Play 'Survivor'

YOUR take on Pontiac's Aztek may depend, to some extent, on whether you think Richard Hatch is a fashion icon.

One reward for the rat-noshing performance of the surly ''Survivor'' survivor was a 2001 Aztek. And adjectives that viewers might use for the Machiavellian island king also sum up Pontiac's out-of-left-field crossover vehicle: bloated, polarizing, independent, more intelligent than truly rugged.

Pontiac insists that the Aztek, with its party-friendly tailgate and gear for hiking, biking and camping, is about having fun. But it looks like a module for survival, and it would seem right at home among the Twinkies and cockroaches that are expected to make it unscathed through nuclear winter.

The ultimate slap in the face of the ''retro'' aesthetic, the Aztek seems to be making an unapologetic dash toward a future in which one would eat, sleep, communicate and store gear in one's car -- think of it as ''Road Warrior'' without the weaponry.

Although the Aztek is aimed at buyers from 25 to 35 years old -- the young blood that General Motors badly needs to lure into its graying family -- Don Butler, the 36-year-old Aztek brand manager, said customers had tended to be closer to 40 so far.

As a college student who drove a red test vehicle around the Boston area for a week, I found that, like the Chrysler PT Cruiser, the Aztek got a ''what's that?'' reaction, but that students had a harder time loving the futuristic Aztek than DaimlerChrysler's much tamer retro offering.

Staff writers at The Harvard Lampoon raced out of their building to get a look, but reactions leaned more toward ''interesting'' than ''cool.'' Jean Yu, a 21-year-old English major from St. Joseph, Mo., said she ''didn't see what all the huge hype was about, other than it has a tent.''

''I was impressed by all the gadgets,'' said Dan Mintz, 19, a philosophy major from Anchorage. ''I'm kind of sick of looking at sport utility vehicles, but it looks a little more like a car than most of them, without sacrificing space.''

That was about the extent of the buzz it stimulated. But excitement and curiosity are different things, and the Aztek generated an endless amount of wonder.

''I feel like I'm in 'Star Trek,' '' was my mother's response to the vehicle's abundance of ultramodern features and cockpit controls -- like an optional dot-matrix display that projects information like the speedometer reading and radio selections onto the windshield in front of the driver.

The center console is a cooler that lifts out. The satellite communication of OnStar will help to find you if you're lost or open your doors if you lock yourself out. An option package provides an air mattress and a tent that attaches over the rear hatch. But it's hard to imagine that anyone would buy the Aztek to get the tent.

The Aztek (along with a refined twin, the Buick Rendezvous, which is yet to come) represents General Motors' best effort in the white-hot market for crossovers that combine traits of different types of vehicles.

But while a crossover like the Ford Explorer SportTrac distills the vital ingredients of a pickup and an S.U.V., the Aztek tries to cram in every characteristic of a minivan and a sport utility, along with a few features from the Millennium Falcon.

''Overambitious isn't a word I'd use,'' said Mr. Butler, the brand manager. ''We wanted to make it as versatile and adaptable as possible.''

But for the young, the features and gadgets may not matter as much as the sticker price, which starts at $21,995. (The GT test vehicle was $27,835.) That may be too steep for younger buyers already being tempted by low-priced cars like the Toyota Echo.

Although the mechanical underpinnings of the Aztek are less interesting than the philosophy behind it, Pontiac did come up with a smooth ride. The front-drive model I tested had a remarkably strong suspension, so it's safe to assume that the independent rear suspension on the all-wheel-drive model -- due next year for $2,400 extra -- will be even tighter. The widely spaced wheels and long wheelbase add stability. The Aztek handles much like a minivan, which is to say it is safe, secure and not very exciting.

The 3.4-liter pushrod V-6 won't win drag races, but it generates enough power (185 horses) and torque (210 foot-pounds at 4,000 r.p.m.) to bail you out of a moderately rough spot. The low-end pull is particularly useful on models with the $365 trailer towing package or for anyone hauling heavy stuff.

Pontiac sold 1,449 Azteks last month, well below the pace that would meet its projection of 50,000 to 60,000 a year, and several dealers around Boston agreed that sales had been disappointing. Michael Ranahan, a salesman at North Shore Buick Pontiac GMC in Malden, Mass., said his dealership has had an Aztek on the showroom floor for a month and ''no one has touched it.''

Many of the Aztek's features seem geared toward families. For example, the GT model offers an optional, separate backseat audio system that lets rear passengers plug in their headphones and play their own tapes or CD's. But that's a feature that will appeal more to adolescents seeking isolation than to college buddies on a road trip.

Another set of radio controls in the cargo area, with speakers canted toward the rear, seem custom-made for a tailgate party (as does the tailgate, which when open offers two cup holders and indentations that represent two awkward, uncomfortable seats).

The bottom line? General Motors deserves credit -- a lot of it -- for bringing out the edgiest crossover vehicle on the market. It is also perhaps the most intriguing Pontiac since the Firebirds of the early 1980's.

When the five ''Survivor'' runners-up appeared on ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show,'' they all got Azteks, too. But can Pontiac sell its postmodern (postapocalyptic?) crossover to anyone under 40? It all depends on whether retro, as epitomized by Steve McQueen, is supplanted by the naked aggression of Mr. Hatch. If so, the Aztek could be at the vanguard of contemporary automotive styling. The vehicle looks as if it came from the future. It will still look that way in three years.

INSIDE TRACK: Apocalypse now.

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A version of this article appears in print on September 17, 2000, on Page 12012001 of the National edition with the headline: BEHIND THE WHEEL/2001 Pontiac Aztek; Add Rats and Snakes And Play 'Survivor'. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe